German open application DE-OS No. 34 14 080 (corresponding to the commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,189 issued Dec. 10, 1985) describes a mechanism for binding a round bale of agricultural material, such as stems and the like cuttings from grass, cultivated plants, and the like, which is mounted on the housing of a baler or baling press.
This mechanism comprises at least one cord or twine supply spool, a cord guide mechanism for conducting the cord strands along the upper surface of the bale to be tied and a cutting mechanism for the cord.
The cutting mechanism is attached to the cord guide mechanism, and the cord guide mechanism comprises at least one cord guide arm and a cord-driven disk having a gear unit.
Large balers or baling presses, with which a round (cylindrical) bale of up to several cubic meters size can be produced are of growing interest. Such balers usually have a rolling chamber, on whose periphery a plurality of rollers driven in the same direction are provided, which form the harvested material, for example, hay, straw, or corn stalks, into a cylindrical bale which is held by cord or twine suitable binding or tying apparatus positioned at the end of the rollers, whereafter the bale is pushed out through the rear door of the baler. The apparatus has a cord guide mechanism comprising two pivotable cord guide arms positioned in separate planes with clearance from each other, whereby both cord guide arms are pivotably mounted on a transverse truss or traverse provided parallel to the entrance gap. Both cord guide arms are pivotable by connecting bars in opposite directions, and of course from an initial position, in which they cross each other and which is suitable for tying up the bale by binding cord about its center, to a maximum position, which is suitable for simultaneously tying up both ends of the bale, and to a final position, which essentially corresponds to the initial position. Both cord guide arms are drivable by the cord itself by means of the cord disk and the gear unit.
The binder mechanism is further provided with an automatic cutting mechanism, which is slidable by one of the cord guide arms from a rest position into an operating position and reciprocates, so that at the end of the tying process, that is, after a fresh crossover of each cord strand by the cord guide arms, a scission of both cords occurs, whereafter the binder mechanism remains idle until the formation of a fresh bale in the baler.
This known binding apparatus has the advantage that the binding cords cross over each other many times on the bale upper surface, so that the cord strands can be wound tightly with high tension around the bale.